JAZZ FESTIVAL 201817th/18th/19th AUGUST

Every year we think that we have organised the best festival yet but 2018 seems to have topped the lot according to comments received so far!
The cream of the cream in terms of the best musicians on the jazz scene were there and whether they played with their own bands or were part of a band formed by Graham or were part of the Keith Nichols Orchestras they played their hearts out and made their sessions something special.

Friday night started as it continued throughout the weekend and we often heard the comments – we can’t see everything we want to see as there is too much fantastic jazz on at the same time. What a problem to have!

We pride ourselves on the diverse mix of styles and music that we offer as well as giving the opportunity to bands and artistes who are not so well known to perform among well known names. They all mix in the bar area and chat away until the small hours which is certainly a unique situation. The festival is loved as much for this by the musicians as it is the general festival attendees. They too like the opportunity to sit and chat to the musicians and exchange stories.

Despite increasing the size of the marquee venue we still do not reach capacity which is great (although we are not that far away) and the new location for the Vale Piano Room was a hit all round. The musicians remarked upon the acoustics saying how great they were and the pianos hired from Vale Pianos were again much appreciated. Thank you to Vale Pianos for their support and help with the supply and the tuning during the course of the weekend.

We would like to thank all who visited and enjoyed the weekend, the musicians who entertained us, the volunteer stewards who gave their time and Kate & Andy Fletcher who as usual went above and beyond the call of duty to help us. A massive thank you from all the committee.

Keep a look out for news about 2019 festival…………………….

Comments received

As always so many thanks are due to all the team who ensure that the Pershore Jazz Festival remains the best there is. There is such a variety of music so every taste is catered for. The good weather made strolling around the venues very pleasant, and the Vale Piano Room was excellent now it has moved to a central location. Now looking forward to 2019

Another wonderful Pershore Jazz Festival. Congratulations to you and all the team who work around you. We thoroughly enjoyed it again and so did all the people we spoke to. We learned a bit more about jazz and wouldn’t have missed the early morning talks for anything. Both were excellent

We would love the thank the Pershore Jazz Festival 2018 team for a fantastic festival. The Vale Piano Room in the reception area was excellent. Couldn’t listen to all the bands we wanted to; there was so much choice. We look forward to next year

I have to mail and tell you what a great jazz day I had yesterday. It’s only the fourth year that I have been to your Jazz Festival but yesterday was brilliant. I went to all the venues, but I spent a lot of time in the Vale Bar, and the music was wonderful, talented players, great atmosphere. Loved my day, thank you for putting the whole thing together. I look forward to next year….

Could I please ask you to pass on our thanks to ALL the stewards and helpers who did such a great job over the weekend. My wife was on crutches after a knee operation and had to use her own chair – nothing was too much trouble and we were looked after splendidly everywhere we went….. though the jazz festival itself was as usual excellent, their help made such a difference to us. THANK YOU ALL

I wanted to say thank you for a lovely weekend – it just gets better – I don’t know how you do it! Please would you thank all your colleagues – you work very hard over a long period to make it all happen so well. The Vitality Five group was amazing. Hope we may hear them again. I look forward to 2019, but in the meantime, you all deserve a good rest.

Just a quick note to say thank you to all the committee for giving us such a wonderful festival. We, along with I am sure very many others ,really enjoyed ourselves very much indeed

A HUGE thank you to you all for a fantastic festival again this year and all your mammoth efforts organising this magnificent event. We had a wonderful time and feel truly blessed to have the opportunity to enjoy the craftsmanship of so many talented performers all in one place. Pershore is our favourite festival! The whole atmosphere of the festival was brilliant. We are already looking forward to next year!

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FESTIVAL DETAILS

LINK TO THE JAZZ GUIDE

PROGRAMME OUTLINE

BRIEF BAND BIOS

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

BOOKING FORM (DOWNLOADABLE)

ACCOMMODATION GUIDE

LINK TO TICKET PAGE

DIRECTIONS TO PERSHORE COLLEGE

FROM THE NORTH & SOUTH – M5 Motorway Junction 7 exit onto B4084 towards PershoreEnter Pershore and continue through the town centre until you reach the River Avon bridge Continue up the hill following jazz signs which are at the bottom of the hillThe College Campus you will find on the right hand side of the roadFollowing signage for car parking, camping and caravanning, college reception, college B&B rooms and ticket office

PLEASE NOTE THERE IS NO CASH POINT ON SITE NOR CREDIT CARD FACILITIES(NEAREST IN PERSHORE TOWN)

Bands and artists who appeared over the weekend:

click on highlighted names to view their websites

As always festival favourites plus new bands and artistes will be appearing to complete our aim of providing wall to wall music and all genres of jazz throughout the weekend

Click on The Jazz Guide to find details of all the latest national news and events

Friday evening sessions:
KEITH NICHOLS ORCHESTRA – THE PARAMOUNT BROADCASTERS – as always Keith will work his magic and arrange sessions using the musicians that are booked at the festival.

IAN BATEMAN JAZZBAND – A TRIBUTE TO KENNY BALL & HIS JAZZMEN – Kenny Ball was a big influence & part of Ian’s career. When Kenny’s son announced in September 2017 that he would no longer be running the band Ian offered to continue the music in the form of a tribute show. All band members have experience of playing with the original band and the show will be based on the golden years of the band in the 1960’s and their chart hits.

JOHN HALLAM & ALEX CLARKE – an accomplished and popular reed player John will perform in various sessions as well as leading his own new band The Blue Three. With John for this opening night will be the talented Alex Clarke

“THE BENNY GOODMAN STORY” – a talk presented by Chris Walker who has for over 30 years presented a weekly jazz
programme broadcast by radio stations all over the world

SPATS LANGHAM/MARTIN WHEATLEY DUO – a dynamic duo

ENRICO TOMASSO – much acclaimed trumpeter and several times winner of the British Jazz Awards. Expect to see Enrico’s talented daughter Analucia on vocals too!

NICK WARD’S JELLY ROLL QUARTET – John Maddocks – Keith Nichols – Tom “Spats” Langham & Nick Ward – all members of this band are steeped in the musical styles of early jazz & music from the south side of Chicago in the 1920’s
MICHAEL McQUAID – Now based in London multi-instrumentalist Michael is making his debut appearance and will appear with Vitality Five, his own 7/8 piece band and other guest sessions
PEDIGREE JAZZ BAND – a salute to Trad jazz recreating hit tunes from the 1950’s & 60’s

AMY ROBERTS – Amy will be joined by well known and popular musicians for her ‘New’ Amy Roberts Quartet

VITALITY FIVE – featuring internationally renowned musicians from three corners of the globe they are some of the most authentic and specialist performers of 1920’s hot jazz & stomps London has to offer.

EMMA FISK’S HOT CLUB DU NORD – this band brings to life the classic 1930’s & 40’s repertoire of Django Reinhardt & Stephane Grappelli’s Hot Club de France with their wealth of knowledge, experience and love of this jazz style

DORINE DE WIT – withdrawn due to personal reasons of a happy nature! This year’s band will be led by John Maddocks, Graham Hughes & Jamie Brownfield

JOHN HALLAM‘S BLUE THREE – launched at the festival in 2017 this band perform music in the style of the original band “The Blue Three” which was created for a recording session in 1981 with members Kenny Davern, Dick Wellstood & Bobby Rosengarden.